Clumsy Model
by X.x.YellChell.x.X
Summary: Gabriella is the new, clumsy girl at East High. She does a tiny bit of "posing for photos" at her mum's nursery. Troy is the kind hearted basketball Jock who is a photographer - he photographs young ladies in purely art based ways TROYELLA! r&r!
1. Accident Prone

Gabriella watched the rain drops trickle down the bus window as the long laborious bus ride to her first day of East High continued on. She sat at the back, all alone. She always kept her bag on her lap in the hope that someone may sit next to her. But at each school, on each bus, with the same kinds of students… it never changed. She moved in her seat and slouched down slightly to make herself more comfortable. She leaned her head against the cold, fogged window and closed her eyes, but immediately snapped them open as she felt a scrunched up piece of paper hit her in the face. She looked down to see it sitting on the always empty seat next to her. Was it an accident? Was someone aiming for her? Was she supposed to read it? Considering all of the above options, Gabriella just decided to leave it sitting next to her and closed her eyes again.

"Excuse me, is this seat occupied by that piece of paper?" a friendly voice said. Gabriella opened her eyes once more to look up at the person. My god he was…attractive. Very attractive. But wait a moment; he looked sort of familiar, like she had seen him before. Gabriella turned her head to the side to look at him from a different angle. Nope, nothing came to her. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Gabriella said quickly.

"Are you alright? You kind of seemed as though you were in a daze" he replied.

"I was" she said. "No I wasn't. Well I was, but I wasn't at the same time. I-" Gabriella squinted at the handsome boy who was just grinning at her "take a seat" she said leaning her head against the window. No point in trying to make friends or conversation with that boy. She just humiliated herself in front of –

"Troy!! Spare seat up here!" another male voice yelled out. Gabriella looked next to her to see the boy, who seemed to go by the name of Troy staring back at her.

"You look somewhat familiar. Do we know each other by any chance?" Troy said.

"Well, I always seem to embarrass myself in front of people I have never met so, I doubt it" Gabriella replied.

"Well then. I'm Tr-" he began as he held out his hand. Gabriella went to shake it but he was yanked away by a bushy haired African American boy. Troy seemed a bit take aback by his friend, so he gave Gabriella one last quick smile and went to join a bunch of guys at the front of the bus. Gabriella leaned across a bit to get a better look. _They must be the jocks?_ Gabriella thought. Well there seemed to be a lot of them so she guessed so.

The bus came to a holt as all the school kids began to stand up and throw their bags over their shoulders. Gabriella was at the very back waiting to step off the bus. As she gradually became closer and closer to the door the noise grew louder and louder. She finally stepped out of the vehicle, only to catch her heel on the step which sent her toppling down to the hard ground. Many people laughed but no one seemed to help the poor new girl. Gabriella felt like lying there for the rest of the day covering her head with her arms so no one could ever see her again.

"Hey there, you alright?" a familiar, friendly voice said. "You seem to be falling in love with the ground". Gabriella looked up and saw that same boy from the bus. He was blocking out the sun and he looked like an angel. "Here" he said and he held out his hand which Gabriella cautiously took. "That was a pretty embarrassing fall" he said and Gabriella's smile dropped at the drop of a hat.

"Thanks" she said dully.

"On the bright side, it would have looked funny in slow motion" he added trying to lighten her up a bit. But she didn't. Gabriella just glared at him. "I seemed to have just embarrassed you more havn-"

"Yes. You have. So I might just make a quick exit" Gabriella said immediately and she walked past him, accidently knocking his bag off his shoulder. Troy just turned around to watch her leave not caring about his bag on the ground.

Gabriella walked in the large entry of East High and stopped to examine all the students and the path she would take. She decided to go straight ahead. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, fixed her bag over her shoulder and took one step forward.

BAM!

"Oww!" Gabriella squealed as she went face down to the floor again. She looked around quickly, not _too_ many people seemed to notice so she scrambled to her foot as quickly as she could. She ran her fingers casually through her long hair, cleared her throat one more time and took another step forward. Little by little, she was making her way through the halls with minor incidents. She got pushed by passing people a couple of times and bumped shoulders but that's it. As she was walking, she looked to her left when she hear Troy's familiar voice. She saw him nonchalantly leaning against a locker with his hands buried in his pockets talking to his mates. One of them was spinning a basketball on their finger. _So they must all play basketball. Basketball jocks._ Troy smiled a Gabriella, but his smile faded a little bit after and Gabriella wondered why. Did she have something on her face?

BANG!

Okay, Gabriella realized why Troy's smile dropped. Because she was headed straight for a big, BIG pole which she smacked right into. Gabriella's head was throbbing in so much pain that she thought people could _see_ her head pulsating.

"Not much luck today then?" Troy said as he walked up to her.

"It would seem that way" Gabriella said quietly with a small smile.

"Are you alright? You seem to be tackling all these injuries very well" Troy asked.

"They aren't really injuries. The pain will pass, but the embarrassment won't" Gabriella said smiling the tiniest bit.

"Oh that's not embarrassing, much, _much _worse things have happened here at East High. No one would have noticed that." But Troy was just telling a white lie. That was probably the most embarrassing incident that has happened all year! "So what's your name?" Troy asked.

"You must be Gabriella Montez" a man said from behind Gabriella. "I'm principle Matsui; I'll be taking you to your home room"

"Umm, yeah that's me. Okay, that's great thanks" Gabriella said looking up at him.

"Oh blast! I've forgotten a _very_ important meeting! Gabriella do you think you could ask a student where your home room is? Your teacher is Miss. Darbus."

"I have Darbus, I can show her" Troy said happily folding his arms across his chest.

"That's great Troy, however may I asked you to quickly patch up that sentence?" Matsui asked.

"Uhh, I have _Miss_ Darbus" he said and Mr. Matsui gave him a pat on the back.

"See you kids later"

"Bye sir"

"See you" Gabriella said.

"So we have the same homeroom together. Fancy that" Troy said and Gabriella grinned slightly.

"Fancy that" she replied.

"So no more clumsy accidents, bumps or falls today alright?" Troy said patting her on the back which Gabriella found very nice of him.

"Let's hope" she replied.

"TROY!! HEADS!!" a male voice yelled out. Gabriella's eyes widened and Troy turned around to see a basketball coming straight at him. His hands were back in his pockets and didn't have enough time to catch the ball so instinctively, he ducked.

SMACK!

Gabriella dropped all her books on the floor and nearly fell as the basketball hit her on the side of the head, luckily it wasn't that hard.

"Oh man! I'm so sorry Gabriella I should have caught that!!" Troy said rushing to help her pick up her things.

"No, no it's fine. I just seem really accident prone today. Soon enough you will run out of people to blame" she said picking up the last of her things and comfortably placing them in her arms. Gabriella and Troy were left facing each other. "I'm sorry, but I'm really sure I've seen you at least somewhere before"

"I was just thinking the same thing" Troy said. "Well, if we do remember seeing each other somewhere it will come to us sooner or later. Now, let's go to homeroom" Troy said, following his friends who had already left smirking at the two.

They had been walking for about 40 seconds until Gabriella's phone started ringing in her bag. "Shoot" she said. She moved all her books to one arm to try and balance them there.

"Let me take that" Troy offered.

"No no it's fine I got it" Gabriella said sounding very sure of herself. She tried to unzip her bag with one hand which was very difficult, and to add to her luck her bobby pins fell out of her hair sending it cascading over her face. But wow! Troy did find _that_ amazing!! Soon enough, the books that Gabriella was attempting to balance went plummeting to the ground. She turned to look at them, "damn it!" she whispered to herself. Her phone was still ringing and she was getting desperate that she tried to 'carefully' rip open the zipper, but instead, she broke one of the straps and the bag flung open sending _everything_ flying _everywhere _including her drink bottle which leaked all over the floor. "This is not happening" Gabriella said hanging her head down in shame. She bent down to pick up her stuff but her foot slipped on the water all over the floor. Her leg went flying up, and her body went flying to the ground and she landed right on her back. "First day at East High equals tragedy" Gabriella said as she was staring up at the roof.

"First days are always a little shaky" Troy said. Gabriella got a shock when he wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up off the floor – but it felt nice. "I think maybe you should stand just over there while I pick all this up for you" he said pointing to the wall. Instead of persisting to help, she just did what he said to do and stood timidly by the wall. She watched as Troy picked up all her equipment. The way he moved his feet around, how his shirt moved when he was in different positions, the way his shaggy brown hair fell over his face, the way he stared at her amused. "Hello? Is anybody there?" He asked waving a hand in front of her face.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'm good. Thank you for helping me" Gabriella replied.

"Anytime" Troy said flashing a dazzling grin. "here is Ms. Darbus' class" Troy said pointing to the door closest to them. Gabriella peeked inside and saw they were all looking directly at her and all chuckling. "I think they saw everything" Troy added.

"Thank you, I sort of latched on to that" Gabriella said and just made her way in the classroom.

"You must be Miss. Montez. Our new star. That was quite a spectacle" Ms. Darbus said.

"Umm, yeah" Gabriella replied, sounding just like a mouse.

"Take a seat" Darbus said. Gabriella walked towards the back of the classroom where she saw a spare desk. As she passed each student, she heard snickers and giggles – obviously about the most embarrassing fall of the millennium a few minutes back.

"Good luck today Gabriella" Troy whispered to her.

**Gabriella's POV**

Name: Gabriella Ana Montez

Age: 18

First day of school: DISASTER

Well once again I managed to humiliate myself in front of possibly the whole school so many times today! It was terrible. However, I did meet a friendly jock named Troy. I don't even know his last name, but he was really nice to me throughout the day. At my old schools the jocks just laughed at me if I mortify myself constantly.

Now I have to make my way to my mum's nursery. Nursery sounds lame huh? Well I'm telling you, mum has these nurseries all over America and she's doing great! I do some modeling for the pamphlets and things and small brochures. No, this is not professional modeling at all. I wouldn't even call it modeling. It's just posing for pictures and things, mainly in gardens. They do give me outfits to wear. That's it. Nothing more.

**End of Gabriella's POV**

**Troy's POV**

There was a new girl at East High today. Beautiful, dark eyes, long dark hair. She was pretty incredible. Her name was Gabriella, I'm not sure what he last name was but she was amazing. Except for the 8 times she fell over or bumped into someone or got hit with something today. But even so, she still managed to be dazzling.

I should head off now. I'm almost finished my photographs at the Montez Nursery. Yes, I'm a photographer as well as a basketball player. I have a few hobbies. Basketball is my top one, and then comes photography. I'm just doing this small garden project for my mum, don't ask me why. But if I take some photos she wants then I do it. For my dad as well. You see they paid for this incredibly camera of mine – ever since I showed an interest they were happy to help me out.

I take kind of, revealing photos of girls and them modeling in strange and bizarre places. But NO, don't you think for one second I am perverted. It's purely art and art only. But, I have just never seemed to find the right girl – even though they are all amazing.


	2. Photoshoots

"Hello?" Gabriella said quietly as she knocked on the door frame to see her mum's assistant Astrid.

"Oh hello Gabriella, you would be doing some shooting in the back section of the garden today. Is that ok?" Astrid replied.

"Yes, that's perfectly fine" Gabriella said as she followed Astrid into a small change room. She picked out a colourful dress for Gabriella who quickly slipped it on and walked out to meet her mum in the back garden. "Hi mum!" Gabriella said waving to her mum as she walked up to her.

"Oh darling you look gorgeous!" Her mum, Maria replied.

"Thanks mum"

"Now where in a bit of a rush so…" Gabriella's mum continued to explain the concept to Gabriella as she went to pose in the garden.

Meanwhile, Troy was out the front of Montez Nurseries with his camera and tripod.

"Ahh hello Troy, how are you going?" Astrid said as she was walking to the counter.

"Pretty good thanks Astrid, yourself?" Troy replied.

"Rather busy, we've got Maria's daughter out the back doing some quick shots, you're very welcome to go and have a look and take a few of your own photos of the gardens" Astrid offered.

"yeah actually I will do that" Troy said. So he picked up his camera and tripod and made his way out the back. He was greeted with the familiar sounds of clicking cameras and large flashes. He placed his equipment neatly on a small table and went to say hello to Ms. Montez. "Hi Maria" Troy whispered as he joined Ms. Montez watching her daughter.

"Oh! Hello Troy, where just taking a few shots of my daughter here. She looks stunning in that dress" she said. Troy would have replied but he didn't see her face properly or her body for that matter. But, the spinning beauty twirled around as camera men shot pictures of her dress flailing in the wind and her gorgeous smile. Troy's jaw dropped.

"Yes she certainly is beautiful" Troy finally replied. Maria looked at him and grinned.

"Thank you Troy" she said.

So _that's_ where Troy had seen Gabriella! But he only saw her wondering around in shorts and shirts a few times, nothing like this! She was stunning. For a moment, he thought about what she would be like in the shots he took of girls her age. He examined her and her body, she looked pretty darn perfect.

"Okay, we'll take quick break honey" Ms. Montez said and Gabriella nodded. She walked off her little set, but her foot got tangled in one of the tripod cords. She lifted up her foot and attempted to untangle herself, but no such luck. She lost her balance and crashed into one of the large umbrellas.

"Ouch!" she yelled. Everyone seemed pretty preoccupied and busy that they didn't notice! But Troy certainly did. _This can't be happening to her again! _He thought. He rushed over to the girl untangling her legs from the cords and stuff.

"You truly _are_ a spectacle Miss. Montez" Troy said. Gabriella thought it was just some random fellow coming to help her because of course Troy didn't know her last name, but little did she know, he had just found out.

"Yes" Gabriella said and looked up to see who was helping her. "Oh no" she said and hung her head glumly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Well this is about the 10th time I have humiliated myself near you."

"No need to worry Gabriella. All the falls you have had today have been very cute. And all the blows to the head who had gotten today didn't make you look any less beautiful. And each time you crashed into something, you looked very endearing when you fixed yourself up afterwards" He said, like he complements girls very often. Gabriella just stared at him, and Troy had just realized that he had just said all that to almost an acquaintance.

"Really?" Gabriella said sounding hopeful and flattered. Troy chuckled trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Yeah" he mumbled while grinning. He looked down at the ground and looked back up at Gabriella who was biting her lip.

"Thanks Troy. I know I don't know you very well but…" and she leaned in a gave him a kiss on the cheek. She saw him turn red and she smiled to herself. He held out his hand to help Gabriella up and soon enough they were standing opposite each other, but not for long.

"Heads buddy!!" a stupid electrician said to another electrician as he threw a large, heavy light to him. Electrician number 2 attempted to catch it but it was a little bit high, so he jumped. He caught it of course, but slammed right into Troy who got pushed right onto Gabriella and they both went back to the floor. Troy was right on top of Gabriella.

"Am I crushing you?" Troy asked with a small smile dancing on his lips.

"No" Gabriella whispered. The pair both just stared at each other with their faces inches apart. Troy's hand almost moved up to brush a strand of hair away that was on her face, but he was interrupted.

"You two alright?!" one of the electricians said. Troy once again helped Gabriella off the ground. "Ah, another crash Miss. Montez?" he said.

"Another?" Troy asked and looked at Gabriella.

"She falls a lot, almost every t-"

"Thank you Tim, I think that light needs attending to" Gabriella said pointing to a bright light and quickly zoomed off.

"She falls a lot does she?" Troy asked while grinning and putting his hands in his pockets. "What's the worst?"

"I was lucky enough to see it actually. She was doing some photo shoots here of course, and afterwards she was just helping her mum carry some pots and plants around and stuff. Well, a bird swooped her. She ducked and tried to wave it away with one hand but lost balance with all the other stuff, she tried to stop it all from wobbling everywhere and here is the best part, her shoe lace was undone…"

"Oh no…" Troy said.

"So she took a step to balance her self and tripped on her shoelace. The pots went flying up in the air and she also crashed into a rose stand. She was covered in dirt. That's pretty bad"

"That _is_ pretty bad" Troy agreed. For a moment, he pictured it all happening in his mind – god it would be adorable.

"However, someone as pretty as Miss. Montez could pull it off. She was adorable" Tim said.

"Roger" Troy said.

For the rest of the afternoon, Troy took the photos he wanted to and got a peek of Gabriella every now and then. He liked her. He liked her a lot. Already.

THE NEXT DAY

Troy was making his way to class when he heard a rowdy bunch of guys and squeal from a girl. It sounded like Gabriella, because she had made a few of those sounds from her experiences yesterday. He ran over and saw the captain of the football team with Gabriella slung over her shoulder.

"let go of me!!" Gabriella yelled.

"I'll let go of you, but it was you who failed to specify when or where" the guy said, as he held her near the garbage bin.

"OI!" Troy yelled, rage boiled up inside of him.

"Pshh…she's all yours Bolton!" he said as he held her in his arms and actually threw her to Troy who quickly jumped forward and gracefully caught her in his arms.

"You right there Gabriella?" Troy asked.

"Good catch" Gabriella replied. Troy placed her feet firmly on the ground.

"Thanks. So what was going on here?" Troy asked.

"Umm…new girl plus multiple embarrassing moments plus carrying math's books plus footballers equals catastrophe" Gabriella replied. "Just a sad case of bullying I guess" Gabriella looked up when a few students started making a fuss. She heard them mimicking Gabriella and pretending to fall over and crash into the wall. Gabriella hung her head and Troy looked at her sympathetically. He stepped out in front of Gabriella and spoke to the kids.

"You wanna stop doing that?" Troy said.

"Not really!" a young boy who was about 13 or 14 said.

"Well goodbye to your basketball coaching Alex" Troy replied, and all the kids stopped.

"Sorry Troy" Alex replied and they all made a quick exit. Troy turned back to Gabriella.

"Thanks again Troy"

"Not a problem. Any time" he said grinning. "Who've you got now?"

"I have drama now with Mr…..Collett." Gabriella replied checking her timetable

"Ayyy me too! Come on, let's go" Troy said and Gabriella happily went with him. "So um, have you made some friends?" Troy asked and he saw Gabriella droop her head.

"No. I have this knack of not being able to make any" Gabriella said turning red. "It's happened throughout my life, and since my mum's company constantly transfers her everywhere it makes it even harder"

"So…you've never…had any friends?" Troy asked and Gabriella sadly shook her head. Gabriella was sure that Troy would ditch her right there considering she just told him she was a total loner – and that's a pretty embarrassing subject.

"Well then Gabriella, would you like to hang out with me this afternoon after school?" Troy said and Gabriella's head shot up. "We could grab a bite to eat if you like, all on me" he said happily. Gabriella's already evident smile grew bigger and she nodded her head.

"I'd love to" she replied.

"Settled" Troy replied, "lets get going to drama" he said.

-

-

"Ah Troy, and you must be Gabriella" a tall, almost bald man said. Gabriella nodded and Troy held out his hand to wave. "I'm afraid you're a bit late, we're just getting into pairs to do some impro. Go on, sort yourselves out" he said and went to read some paper on a clip board. Troy went to say hello to his friend Chad – those two always paired up. And Gabriella recognized him to be the bushy haired boy from the bus. Anyway, getting in pairs was something that Gabriella _despised_, she was always left alone and once again…embarrassed. She cleared her throat and even considered going to the bathroom to get out of the pairing.

"But Troy??" Gabriella heard Chad say.

"Sorry man, time for a pleasant change" Troy said as he was walking up to Gabriella. Chad just rolled his eyes and went to find a new partner. "Hey new partner, haven't spoken to you in a while" he said.

"I know. How have you been?" Gabriella replied, and they both laughed. It felt great for Gabriella when someone came up to be her partner instead of being _put_ with someone by the teacher.

"Right then, Troy Gabriella I believe you two are a pair, you will be playing a couple on Valentine's day, Chad and Corey you both will play two men at war…" and the teacher gave each pair different scenarios.

"Valentines day then. Fun improvisation"

"Troy and Gabriella, you two first!" Mr. Collett said as he gave them a slight push on the stage.

"Happy Valentines day honey!" Troy said exaggeratedly and the class laughed, anything at all that Troy said in drama made everyone just laugh for no reason.

"Not really" Gabriella replied folding her arms across her chest showing attitude.

"What's wrong baby?"

"Don't call me that"

"Why not?"

"You know the gift you got me?"

"Of course, your favourite movie. Team America"

"To begin with, it is _not_ my favourite movie, not only is it very un-romantic, it's due back on Wednesday!!" Gabriella said and everyone laughed out loud. And from here on in, Gabriella enjoyed the rest of the day.

**Okay guys, you like this story or do you find it boring? I'm open for any ideas or twists and turns if you want some input!!**

**xxxx**


	3. Strawberry Milkshake

Gabriella was to meet Troy at her locker that afternoon so they could make their way out of East High together. However, Gabriella was having serious trouble trying to open her locker!

--------

"Free throws at mine Troy?" Chad asked Troy while they were both at their lockers.

"Sorry mate, got other plans this afternoon" Troy said happily putting a jumper on.

"Such as?" Zeke Baylor asked, another friend of Troy's and another boy on the basketball team.

"Hanging out with a new friend"

"And why don't we know about this _new_ friend?" Chad asked.

"She's new here" Troy said.

"Ohh, you mean the girl on the bus you were sitting next to the other day?"

"Yep, that's her, she's cute and her name is Gabriella Montez. So I'll see you guys tomorrow" Troy said as he made his way through the corridor slapping hands with almost every guy his age. He remembered Gabriella's locker number, 264 it was. So he made his way there. As he turned the corner, he saw her really struggling to open her locker.

Gabriella turned the lock this way and that way on the correct numbers but it still didn't seem to budge, "oh come on" Gabriella said to herself. She sighed and took a deep breath, "everything is trapped in my locker" she said. Gabriella gave the locker one lifeless hit, however didn't expect it to fling right open. As it did, it smacked her right in the cheek almost knocking her over and to top it all off, her books and pieces of paper came falling out like a waterfall. As soon as Troy saw the scene he bolted to the rescue.

"How's your pretty head?" Troy said as he helped her off the floor.

"I don't believe this" Gabriella said. "For a moment I thought, 'at least Troy didn't see this one'".

"Well Miss. Montez, why do you care so much that I see you having accidents like this?" Troy asked cheerfully.

"It's just embarrassing. In front of anyone really" Gabriella quickly said. "Gotta pick these up" she said, pointing at the books all over the floor. She bent down to pick up her chemistry books and as she stood back up, she hit the back of her head on the locker door which was still wide open. "Oww!!" she said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Are you okay?" Troy asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, you're going to be asking that question a hell of a lot now" she said chuckling.

-

-

-

"So where would you like to go?" Troy said as they both clicked their seatbelts in.

"Well I don't know Albuquerque very well, so you can choose" Gabriella said looking at Troy.

"We could just go and get a milkshake or something?" Troy asked and Gabriella nodded.

"Sounds great!"

"Well then, we're off" he said and he started the car as they drove to Troy's favourite café.

"Ahh Troy, the usual?" one of the waiters said.

"Yep, and…" he began as he looked to Gabriella who was searching for something in her bag, "…and a strawberry milkshake Gabriella?" Troy asked.

"Yes thanks" she said casually, "wait a minute, how did you know I wanted a strawberry milkshake?" Gabriella asked.

"You look like a strawberry milkshake girl" Troy replied, boy did he know a lot about girls.

-

-

-

"So Troy you never told me why you were at my mum's nursery. What were you taking pictures of?" Gabriella asked.

"Well I'm kind of a photographer. Now before you freak out, I take photos of girls doing modeling and stuff but in a strict non perverted way. And yeah, here is a few actually" and Troy reached in his bag and pulled out some amazing photography.

"Wow Troy these are amazing!" Gabriella said looking at the girls.

"Thanks Gabriella. So, what kind of modeling do you?" Troy asked.

"Oh I'm not a model or anything, I just do some photos to promote mum's nursery. They go in brochures and pamphlets and stuff. I definitely wouldn't call it modeling. I could never do anything like these girls could" Gabriella said looking at the girls in the photos. "They look so confident – I'm too shy for that" Gabriella said.

"You'd be surprised Gabriella. Well I know I wouldn't be surprised, because I _know_ you would make a great model. You're definitely beautiful enough for it" Troy said, taking a sip of his chocolate milkshake. Gabriella looked at him and a smile slowly grew on her face, a boy has never been this nice to her before. Gabriella got rather intrigued by herself, maybe she would look okay in a modeling photo. She decided to go and look for herself.

"I'll be right back, just going to the bathroom" she said. Troy smiled and nodded and took a bit of his muffin, but he whipped his head around when he saw Gabriella's foot get caught in her bag strap. She pulled the bag with her foot which ended up knocking the seat which then knocked the table and shattered the tall milkshake glass that fell off the table. Gabriella sat on the floor with a wide open mouth, obviously not hurt, but with the whole café staring at her. She looked at Troy and didn't even say anything. Troy looked at her sympathetically; the poor thing keeps falling over! She just got up and walked to the bathroom.

Gabriella reached the bathroom, pushed open the door and looked at herself in the mirror. She slid her hands down her cheeks and washed the little drops of strawberry milkshake off her arms. She thought about what Troy said, _"You're definitely beautiful enough to be a model"_ embarrassingly, Gabriella posed for a 'sexy' photo in the long mirror but quickly pretended to do her hair when she saw another girl walk in.

She came out and joined Troy only to see everything was cleared up. "Would you like another milkshake?" Troy asked reaching for his wallet.

"No! No, no I don't think I can have another milkshake. Ever" she said giggling. Troy laughed as well, but stopped suddenly when his phone rang.

"Sorry Gabriella…hello? Oh hey…yeah no worries. Ok…yep, love you too" he said.

_Love you too??_ Gabriella thought, her head shot up, he had a girlfriend?

"Sorry Gabriella I have to run, I have to meet my…"

_Please don't say girlfriend, please don't say girlfriend, please don't say girlfriend_

"Mum" he finished and Gabriella slouched in relief, but she didn't know why. "Come on, I'll drop you home" he said holding out his hand to help her off her seat.

"No it's fine, my house is about 25 minutes away from here, I can catch the bus. I don't want you wasting fuel" Gabriella insisted.

"No it's fine; it's definitely not a waste of fuel. I'm using it for a good reason" he said grinning. And Gabriella admitted, that was the sexiest smile she had ever seen.

-

-

-

"This one here" Gabriella said when they pulled up out the front of her house. "Thank you very much for driving me Tory" Gabriella said.

"It's not a problem" he said as he got out of the car. Gabriella wondered what he was doing. She smiled when she realised he was opening the door for her! She stepped out and he even walked her to her front door. "I had a great time this afternoon Gabriella" Troy said as he reached out and gave her a hug. Gabriella was slightly taken aback, she didn't think he would hug her! But there was a tiny tingle that she liked about it. And so did Troy.

Gabriella clicked the door closed and leant against it with a big grin. She walked up to her room and dropped her bag on the floor, but as she did she saw a white piece of paper fly out. She picked it up and opened it.

Troy must have slipped it in her bag when he hugged her.

**Okaaaaay guys – I hope you like this chapter, sorry it's a bit short but I was a bit rushed! **

**Also check out my poll on the profile, it's on which story you like the most and I'll update the best answer!**

**xxxx**


	4. Cooking

_Dear Miss. Gabriella Montez,_

_It would be much to my delight if you would join me at the rooftop garden tomorrow morning. Go to the L corridor and enter the first janitor's closet on the right and walk up the metal stairs. _

_I shall be there waiting for you,_

_Sincerely,_

_Troy._

Gabriella folded the piece of paper back up and smiled to herself, she certainly had something to get up for in the morning! She jumped up the stairs to her bedroom to start on her homework. "Blast!" she said, she had forgotten her pencil case at school, so she went back downstairs to her mum's office to get one of the ten thousand pens she had. She reached over her laptop to grab a black biro, but saw a small note folded right in front of the laptop. Curiosity getting the better of Gabriella, she reluctantly opened the note, cursing herself for doing it, and began to read.

_Miss. Beautiful Montez,_

_Join me tomorrow night for a dazzling 3 course meal dinner. I shall escort you to the restaurant tomorrow night at 7:30pm._

_Yours truly,_

_David._

"David??" Gabriella said, "who the hell is David? All David's turn out to be gay" she said to herself. This couldn't possibly be a _date?_ David could be her…_boyfriend??_ Could he? Gabriella quickly folded the note up when she heard her mum backing down the driveway. She speed walked out of her office and back to the lounge room.

"Hello my love" Miss Montez said.

"Hey mum" Gabriella said, sounding as chipper as possibly so her mum wouldn't suspect anything. "How was work?" she asked.

"Oh you know, busy, busy, busy" she replied.

"Honestly mum, you're not a business woman, you are an owner of a nursery, I really don't understand why you need that office" Gabriella said – her mum always acting professional and business-like sometimes ticked Gabriella off.

"Well, it was your fathers. I thought I may put it to good use, and you're right I don't really need it. But it helps me keep organized" she said smiling.

"I guess you're right"

"Speaking of work, tomorrow night I have to travel about one hour out of town to observe another garden and compare the qualities, not really interesting. But I'll be home around 11pm" she said.

"Oh, another nursery? Which one?" Gabriella asked sneakily.

"Umm, you haven't actually heard of it" she replied, obviously struggling to think of a name.

"I don't care, I'd like to know" she asked sweetly.

"Otto Garden's" she replied quickly.

"Oh ok then…cool?" Gabriella said and bounded up the stairs to make a quick exit, her mother's eyes however were looking rather suspicious and rather worried. _Does she know anything_? She thought.

That night, Gabriella wasn't impressed with her mum's lie, and she was struggling to get to sleep – knowing her mum would be spending a night with a man, that was not her father. But she tried to sleep, she kept thinking of the meeting with Troy on the rooftop garden.

Eventually, after 43 minutes Gabriella finally got to sleep.

THE NEXT DAY

Troy rung his hands around as he waited for Gabriella to meet him.

Did she get the note?

Will she come?

What if she rejects him?

What if she forg-

"Hi Troy" a small, sweet voice said quietly from the stop of the stairs.

"Gabriella!" Troy said as he hastily stood up from the seat, almost knocking it over.

"I got your note in my pocket. Very smooth. So…why did you want to meet me here?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, you can absolutely say no to this and I will absolutely understand. There is no pressure whatsoever and you can pretend I didn't even ask you this and-"

"Troy" Gabriella said snapping her fingers, "just ask the question" she said giggling.

"Alright, well you know how I explained to you the kinds of pictures I take?"

"Yes…"

"Well, I noticed, since you have had a bit of experience in front of cameras and things, I was wondering if I could…try and take a picture of you?"

"Umm…" Gabriella began.

"I know you've seen some of my pictures and how the girls were sort of…revealing but I mean…with you – they will absolutely _not_ be revealing. Very conservative" Troy said quickly to reassure her.

"Why not. I'd love to try" Gabriella said shrugging her shoulders and smiling. Maybe she should do something outside of the box, be a bit adventurous. "When would you like to start?"

To be honest, Troy was rather shocked at her reply. He really thought she would say no and wouldn't feel comfortable about it. "Well, since there is half an hour until class starts, can I take 2 or 3 quick ones here??

"Absolutely. Just tell me what to do" Gabriella said flapping her arms around. Troy looked around the garden for a while.

"Well if you can just come over to this seat" he said as they both walked over, "just sit down on an angle, so your legs are propped up next to you so your feet are beside your waist. And do whatever feels natural with your hands and arms" Troy said as he took some steps back to see how it all looked. "Okay perfect, so just hold that pose for a while – don't worry, you can breathe and move your head" he said and Gabriella laughed. Troy was taken aback at how sweet her laugh really was. He pulled out his camera from his bag and held it up to his eye and Gabriella smiled showing her pearly white teeth, it was gorgeous. Very quickly, she heard a click, click, click, click, click. He must have taken a lot! "If you want me to stop taking them then just let me know" Troy said making her feel more comfortable. Click, click, click, click… "those looked amazing! Okay Gabriella, I actually took some pamphlets from your mum's nursery and saw all the pictures of you – you were cutely smiling, as gorgeous as it looked, do you suppose you could pull a serious slash slightly pursed lips slash dark eyes slash…sexy, expression? To be very precise. Just whatever feels natural, no pressure" he said.

Gabriella felt a bit awkward, but she nodded slowly and took a deep breath. Her smile faded and she slightly tipped her head to the side and ever so slightly pursed her lips and parted them the tiniest bit.

"Is your camera broken?" Gabriella asked.

"Huh? What? Oh! Broken? No not at all…"

"Well you kind of just stared at me for a while like…you were shocked your camera might have broken" Gabriella said chuckling.

"Oh! Yeah, thought it wasn't working coz it didn't take any pictures – nah it's all good" Troy said. But he was lying; he was gazing at her in a trance only because of how incredible she looked. She was absolutely the most stunning young lady he had ever taken a picture of.

Click, click, click, click, click.

"I feel like a celebrity!" Gabriella said.

"And I feel like the bloody paparazzi" Troy replied.

"Alright, all finished" Troy said about 5 minutes later.

"Can I see?" Gabriella asked, a bit afraid to see what she looked like.

"You can, but not yet" Troy said grinning cheekily.

"Ok! That works for me. So what do you have now?" she asked.

"I have some bizarre hospitality class I have once a week" Troy replied.

"Serious? So do I!" Gabriella said. "Do you have Miss. Marsdon?"

"Why yes, yes I do. We're doing cooking today…"

"I love cooking!" Gabriella said, so they both set off to the class.

-

-

-

-

"Okay everybody, pair up please. Boy girl thank you" Miss. Marsdon said. Gabriella looked at the roof and subtly then tried to look at Troy, and thankfully, he was already staring at her smiling. He gave her a knowing look and Gabriella nodded in reply. Thank _god_ she had a partner! "Alright, today we're just starting with something simply, just a chocolate cake. I know you all love chocolate cake! So, I have handed you all a sheet of ingredients and instructions under your lab tables. And you may begin, if you need any help then don't hesitate to ask" she said. So Gabriella and Troy made their way to their table and reached out all the ingredients and the method sheet.

"What've you got down there?" Troy asked.

"I have the flour, eggs, caster sugar and I have to go and get the milk from over there. What do you have?"

"I got the bowls and spoons and all that stuff and some more ingredients" Troy said.

"Awesome" Gabriella said as she began to attempt to open the flour. "I can never open packages!" Gabriella said as she kept on trying. She gritted her teeth and pulled as hard as she could, trying to open the bag of flour. But then…

POOF!!

Gabriella was standing still with her arms half way in the air, almost her entire face was covered in flour. Troy pursed his lips trying not to laugh. "It's okay Troy, you can laugh" Gabriella said as she began to laugh herself.

"Ohh man, I'm sorry!" Troy said as he burst out laughing and so did Gabriella. "Let's not focus on the negatives shall we? Let's look on the bright side – you got the bag open!" he said.

"Oh my goodness! What happened here?" Miss. Marsdon said sympathetically. "Gabriella go and wash your face, Troy you continue on here" she said and Troy nodded still trying not to laugh. So Gabriella left to go and wash her face, saying 'don't ask' to at least 7 people who walked past giving her strange looks.

"How many times does that freaking girl make a jackass out of herself?" Someone said to Troy.

"What?" Troy said whipping his head up.

"That girl, the new one. Ga- something or other" he said.

"Gabriella" Troy harshly corrected him, "and she is not making a _jackass_ of herself, everyone just has their clumsy moments"

"Moments? These aren't _moments, _they seem to be non stop" the kid said.

"Jason just si'down" Troy said rolling his eyes and Jason did exactly that.

A little bit later, Gabriella arrived back at the classroom and they continued there cooking experiment.

"No Troy, you're doing it wrong, you have to add that before that" Gabriella said smiling.

"Says who?" Troy replied.

"Says…Mr. Cookbook, it's the way it's always worked" Gabriella said.

"It's an old wives myth"

"No, it's an old wives fact. Plus, it's actually old wives _tale_ Troy" Gabriella said.

"Well…" Troy began, the only comeback he could think of was tapping the tip of Gabriella's nose with the wooden spoon.

"Troy! Now I have chocolate mixture all over my nose!"

"Well, at least it tastes good" Troy said flashing his sexy smile. Gabriella did contemplate the situation. She looked down at her nose and licked it with the tip of her tongue. Troy laughed and Gabriella wiped the mixture off with the back of her hand.

"Hey Gabriella" a female voice said from behind her.

"Hello" Gabriella replied sweetly. Meanwhile, Troy left Gabriella to her girl talk but subtly was actually eavesdropping.

"I'm Maddie and this is Nickie, do you want to come shopping with us this afternoon?" Maddie asked.

"Umm, that's nice but I don't really know you" Gabriella replied nicely.

"Well do you wanna get to know us? You look nice and we thought it would be cool to hang out. You can meet us this afternoon outside Darbus' homeroom?" Nickie asked.

"Well…sure. Why not?" Gabriella said flashing another sweet smile.

"Great! See you this arvo!" they said and walked off back to their cooking. Gabriella turned back around to concentrate and Troy saw a nice smile playing on her lips.

"Umm Gabriella?"

"Yeah?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping or anything, I just overheard. But uh, those two girls aren't really that sensible. I'm not saying not go out with them or anything, just be careful" Troy said warning her about their reputation.

"Why? What's wrong with them? What have they done?" Gabriella said starting to get worried.

"No, I wouldn't call them bad people, just hang out with them this afternoon" Troy said.

"Hmm, alright then" Gabriella replied. Maybe Troy meant for her to find out herself.

-

-

-

Gabriella was standing outside homeroom looking very pretty at 3:15pm waiting for Maddie and Nickie.

"Gabriella! So glad you came, let's get going" Maddie said as she linked arms with Gabriella and practically dragged her out of the school.

"So um, where are we going?" Gabriella asked.

"Well firstly we have to make a pit stop at the liquor store. Nickie has a party this weekend and she needs a heavy supply of grog" she said. Gabriella all of a sudden felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Uh, okay" she said.

As soon as they got there, they immediately went to the Vodka, Breezers, and Bacardi's and every other teenage drink aisle. They took 2 bottles of Rasberry vodka and a few bacardi's and went up to the counter. "Just these thanks" Nickie said.

"Absolutely, can I see some ID please?" the store clerk said nicely.

"Sure" said Nickie and she and Maddie pulled out their ID.

"And yours young lady?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm not buying anything" Gabriella said.

"I'm sorry love but I have to see some ID incase these young ladies may supply you with this alcohol" he said.

"Well…I don't have my ID" Gabriella said feeling sorry for herself.

"What?" Nickie asked.

"I don't have my ID with me, I didn't think I would need it"

"Alright, never mind" she said and they all went to put the alcohol back. Gabriella new the girls were pissed off, it was fairly obvious.

"I'm sorry guys" Gabriella sound quietly. The girls just looked at her and giggle.

"See this?" Nickie said as she held up the bottle and subtly looked at the shop keeper who had his back turned to them. Gabriella looked too then turned back around only to see Nickie and Maddie smuggling the alcohol in their bags. Gabriella's heart skipped a beat and her smile faded. Gabriella took a deep breath and pretended as though nothing happened. They left the shop and Gabriella was half expecting the alarm to go off but much to their luck, it didn't. "So where to now ladies?" Nickie asked.

"Red Balls" Maddie replied. Gabriella didn't mind Red Balls, they had some pretty good clothes in there but the music was always blasting a bit too loud. The girls walked to the shop and entered as if they had a million dollars to spend. Gabriella tagged along behind and looked at the prices.

"Wow guys the prices have gone up way too high! I don't have enough money for this" Gabriella said and once again, the girls just giggled at her. Maddie tested if a few lighters were working and slipped them in her bag. _Not again_.

"U-umm…I-I have to go to the bathr-" before Gabriella even finishes her sentence she was already walking off. She heard the two laughing at her and calling her lame names like loser and goody-goody. Gabriella walked out of the shop and went into City Beach next door. She slouched her shoulders and slumbered in half heartedly looking at the clothes – anything to get away from Red Balls.

"They didn't have enough money ay Gabriella?" a familiar voice said from behind her. Without turning around, Gabriella just grinned and kept looking at the clothes.

"They probably did, they just didn't want to waste it" she said as she turned around. "Hi Troy"

"Hi Gabriella, been enjoying your afternoon?" he asked.

"How did you know I was going to be here?" Gabriella asked.

"I came to have coffee and stuff with Chad and Zeke but they had to leave. Then I saw you, Maddie and Nickie walking past. Those girls always go into Red Balls so I decided to come in this shop incase I saw you leave on your own, and how I was right"

"You were"

"So, why not hang out with me this afternoon? I got some mad ice cream at my place, and I have something for you" Troy said.

"Really?" Gabriella asked lifting her head up.

"Really really" Troy said.


	5. Fitting In

"Well here we are. My home sweet home" Troy said as he opened his front door for Gabriella. "Mum! Dad! I'm home" Troy yelled through the house.

"Hi honey" Mrs. Bolton said, "oh, who's this?" she asked.

"Mum this is Gabriella Montez, Gabriella this is my mum Alice" Troy said.

"Hi Mrs. Bolton it's nice to meet you" Gabriella said holding out her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Gabriella! But please, call me Alice" Alice said smiling and Gabriella nodded.

"Ahh Troy, there you are" Jack Bolton came out and said.

"Hey dad, this is Gabriella Montez, Gabriella this is my dad" Troy introduced again.

"Well hello Gabriella, I believe I have a gym class with you?" he asked.

"Nice to meet you, yes on a Tuesday afternoon" Gabriella said

"Well its 5:00, Gabriella would you like to stay for dinner?" Alice asked. Gabriella thought about it for a moment. Her mum is going to 'visit a nursery' which is actually a date with a man called David, so she would be home alone – so why not?

"That would be lovely Alice, are you sure that's okay?" Gabriella asked. Troy was enjoying watching her politeness and manners and general sweet nature.

"Absolutely! I'm making lasagna"

"Awesome, okay we have homework to do" Troy said.

"We do?" Gabriella asked, but before she got an answer Troy had grabbed her hand and basically carried her up the stairs. "Whoa!" Gabriella almost squealed and Jack and Alice just winked at each other.

"Welcome to the famous Troy Bolton bedroom" Troy said as Gabriella slowly walked inside. It was covered with East High merchandise and she was pretty sure there was no colour other than red and white.

"Geez you're room couldn't be any more East High spirited" Gabriella said to him, but he was scuffling through something in the draw of his desk, "Troy?"

"Sorry Gabriella, one second" he said, "ahh here we go" Troy said and he pulled out a big yellow envelope, "this is for you" Troy said as he handed her the envelope.

"Thank you" Gabriella replied as she took the envelope and began to open it. She pulled out some glassy A4 pieces of paper which had pictures of herself on them. She was amazed! She looked so great! "Wow" Gabriella said quietly, "Troy how did you do this?"

"Do what?"

"Make it look so…good"

"Well, 100% of it was you already looking more than good but I also did some touch ups and colour contrasts and such…" he said. And suddenly, Gabriella wanted to shoot more and Troy had the feeling she wanted to. "Do you wanna shoot some more?" he asked and Gabriella slowly but surely nodded her head. "I'll show you some other shoots I've done, just so you can get an idea. Just to tell you, some are a bit more 'out there' so don't get scared" Troy said and Gabriella smiled.

"I'll be okay" she said. Troy pulled out the photos and handed them to Gabriella. She went through them one by one, they all looked amazing!

"Call me impulsive, but do you wanna do some this afternoon?"

"Sure!" Troy replied.

"On one condition"

"What's that?" Troy asked.

"We clean this filthy room of yours"

"Do we have to mum?" Troy asked.

"We absolutely do" Gabriella said. As she went to pick up a piece of clothing off the floor her foot tripped over the heater cord which was plugging into the wall and fell right onto Troy's bed.

"God my bed is amazing. Not only is it comfortable as all hell, it saved you from crashing to the ground"

"I guess you're right" Gabriella replied. She closed her eyes and felt Troy lie down next to her and gasped.

"You know we don't have to do this if you don't want to" Troy said.

"Do what?!" Gabriella asked shooting upright.

"The photos" Troy said also getting up.

"Oh! The photos. No, yes I want to" Gabriella replied nodding.

"Awesome, follow me" Troy said as he led Gabriella to another bedroom.

"Whose room is this?" Gabriella asked.

"My sister Teighan's room"

"Umm, are you sure we're allowed to be in here?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah it's fine. She's 25 years old and doesn't live here anymore. She's left all her clothes and stuff here. I called her ages ago to ask if I could use them for the models and she said to use whatever I wanted." Troy said as he opened the large wardrobe.

"Whoa! Where did your sister get all these clothes from?!" Gabriella asked, shocked at what she was sitting.

"Well she used to work in some massive clothes shop and she got these massive discounts and all this stuff. So what would you like to wear?" Troy asked.

"Well they're your photos so what do you think I should wear?"

"Well, you could wear these…" Troy said, pulling out a pair of denim shorts, "…and this" he said as he pulled out a big hippie looking white shirt. "Would you be okay wearing these?" he asked.

"Yes of course" Gabriella said and took the clothes from him and got changed in the room.

Gabriella took a deep breath as she looked at herself in the long mirror – she looked incredible. She stepped out of Troy's sister's room to see him standing in the hall fiddling with his camera. He looked at Gabriella quickly then whipped his head back around again when he saw how amazing she looked.

"U-Uh…okay, th-this way" he said, trying not to stare at the beauty who was walking next to him. Although she looked rather timid and self conscious she still managed to be beautiful. "You really do look stunning Gabriella, you shouldn't be self conscious" Troy said kindly and Gabriella moved her hands to her sides instead of moving them in front of her.

Troy showed her to the pool house and Gabriella slowly looked around. "Troy this is amazing!" Gabriella said looking at the sets he had done himself.

"Thanks" he said smiling.

After a few minutes, Gabriella got into the position Troy had told her to.

"Just…yep, simply stand right there in this direction" He said pointing at the line between him and Gabriella, "put her head down slightly and just lace your two thumbs in the little belt holder things…..yes. That's perfect" Troy said. Gabriella cleared her throat, took another deep breath and put on another serious face, she also noticed how Troy was desperately trying not to stare at her in amazement. She was very flattered and it helped her loosen up a bit, maybe she really _did_ look beautiful.

THE NEXT DAY

Gabriella was at her locker, sliding her books in and out with a smile on her face. Troy had quickly showed her the photos that they took yesterday and very slowly, Gabriella was becoming more and more confident. She closed her locker and set off to biology, however she fell right down to the ground when she tripped on someone's foot.

"Check it out!" a female voice said. Gabriella turned around to see a girl holding up her camera phone. She was taking a picture of Gabriella all over the floor with her books and stationary everywhere. Gabriella just stared at her, there was nothing she could do. The girl got the picture and would be off, Gabriella was just left to pick up her books.

"You don't have to help me" Gabriella said to someone who reached down to pick up her books.

"I can't just walk past a girl who's dropped everything" she said. Gabriella looked up to be greeted with a tall blond haired girl.

"Thank you" Gabriella said holding her books tightly to her chest.

"Not a problem. I'm Sharpay by the way, I understand you're new here" she said.

"Y-yeah I am" Gabriella replied.

"Well, I started at East High two years ago and I know what my first few days were like. They can be sort of awkward can't they?" she asked. Gabriella's head flashed back to all the stumbles, falls, trips and blows to the head she had taken.

"They certainly can"

"Well I have biology now, so I'll see you at lunch!" Sharpay said.

"You want me to sit with you?" Gabriella asked.

"Well of course!"

"Well, thank you! And I have bio as well" Gabriella said smiling happily.

"Awesome! Let's go then" Sharpay said as they both walked together to biology. Without realizing, a boy up ahead had totally spilt his water from his drink bottle everywhere! Then…slip,

CRASH!

Sharpay had landed flat on the floor after she slipped badly on the water.

"Sharpay! Are you alright??" Gabriella asked as she bent down. A big part of her was in shock that it actually wasn't her for once!

"Yeah I'm fine, it happens a lot" she replied. _A lot?_ Gabriella thought whilst helping Sharpay off the floor.

"HEADS!" a loud voice yelled in their direction.

"Huh?" Sharpay groaned. She looked up and saw a basketball coming straight at her…

SMACK!

Sharpay got hit right on the side of her face.

"Oww! ASSHOLE!!" she yelled out to the boy who threw it who ran in the other direction. "I've taken wall too many balls to the head" Sharpay said rubbing her cheek "wait…that came out wrong on so many levels" she said and Gabriella laughed. "Come on"

"Are you sure you're alright?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah I'm totally fine. I've grown immune to it all now" she said. Gabriella had made another friend, and she had a feeling they would get along just fine!

-

-

-

THE NEXT WEEK

After math, Gabriella was on her way to free period. She decided to go to the library and also decided to take the long way which she discovered herself after getting lost. She past the music department and the design and tech department and made her way past the gym where she heard the squeaking of shoes and the bouncing of a basketball. After curiosity got the better of her, she decided to peek her head in to grab a quick look at what the gym was like. She walked over to the large gym doors and pushed the metal bar on the front and the door opened with a large creak. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Troy Bolton, shirtless, sweaty and breathing heavily. He ran up, dribbling the ball and scored, not hitting the edges of the hoop or the backboard, just perfectly landing into the metal hoop. He walked back to start again but stopped when he saw Gabriella staring right at him – now she got a look at his perfect body _front on_ and made a face saying 'that's too good to look at – how can someone be that amazing?'

"I'm so sorry!" Gabriella said as she went to run out the door, but Troy didn't want her to go so he quickly thought of something to say.

"Going for a walk?!" He yelled out so she could hear.

"Y-Yeah!" she yelled back. Troy didn't really like the yelling and it echoing in the gym so he casually walked over to her like he did it all the time, whereas Gabriella felt her heart beating so fast she thought it might blow up.

"Do you have gym now?" Troy asked.

"N-no" Gabriella replied, feeling very nervous. "I have free period" she replied

"Yeah, I have another free period too, I just came here to do some free throws" Troy said and Gabriella just nodded. Although Troy was hot and kind of sweaty, Gabriella could still smell the Lynx he must have sprayed on himself. And it smelt amazing.

"Well I have to go now to the library bye!!" she said all in one breath before she thought she might faint from another glance at him. Troy went to open his mouth to say something but he just heard the door closing. He frowned in disappointment that she was gone but thought nothing of it. Maybe because he was shirtless? _Oh well._ He thought as he went to pack up his stuff. Gabriella was outside the gym leaning against the doors.

"Merciful Jesus" she said, Troy could be a model himself. She went to leave but saw Maddie and Nickie smoking what seemed to be…_a joint??_ Gabriella thought. "Oh man" she whispered subtly to herself when they both caught her glance.

"Gabriella! Over here!" Maddie yelled out. Gabriella reluctantly walked over; this was going to do no harm at all right?

"H-hey guys. What's up?" she asked trying to sound as casual as possible, but it wasn't really working.

'Not much really, just bored. You want a hit?" Nickie asked holding the joint at her.

"Not that I care or anything, but won't you get caught with this? You're well inside school grounds" she asked

"Honey, we're pro's. Enough said" Nickie replied and held it out to her one more time.

_Okay. What would one hit do? I don't want to be labeled THAT much of a loser. I mean, I'm not going to die from one puff. I'll just have one puff and say I have to go and everything will be fine. As long as I have one hit they won't think less of me…shut up! Just take it._

Gabriella swallowed hard and took the joint with a shaky hand. She looked at it and slowly went to puff on it but saw a hand appeared from over her shoulder and grabbed it out of her grip.

"Oh no you don't" the voice said, who grabbed her hand and pulled her right away. "Put them away ladies"

"Troy!" Gabriella said, "It wasn't going to do me any harm! I just wanted-"

"To be cool?" Troy said, "I sort of, thought more of you" Troy said as he dug his hands in his pockets and began to walk off.

"Troy!" Gabriella yelled after him. Troy liked her too much to keep walking away so he stopped. "I have fallen over or been hit with something at least 20 times in the first weel I have been here!" she yelled out so he could hear her, "I've gotten flour all over my face and had to walk down the halls looking like a ghost! I've walked into a massive pole in front of the whole senior year basically! I've dropped my books everywhere about 100 times and been smacked in the head by my OWN locker door! Someone took a photo of me when I was looking _very_ unattractive on the floor after tripping on someone's foot!!!! Obviously you have never been a 17 year old girl and you have not the faintest bloody idea what that feels like!" she said emotionally, without realizing Troy was walking towards her the whole time.

"You must feel bad from it Gabriella, everyone has had their share of falls…maybe just not as much as you" Troy said and Gabriella tried not to giggle a bit, "it doesn't mean you have to take a joint – it's illegal and not healthy for you. Especially in school grounds!" he said.

"Look, I've already made myself look like the biggest klutz in the world, I just wanted to someone to think a little bit _more_ of me and think 'oh look, Gabriella isn't that bad at fitting in'" she said getting worked up.

"You are fitting in, you've made friends with Sharpay, and she's opening a whole new social group to you"

"I only made friends with Sharpay because I tripped over!" Gabriella replied. "And I made friends with you because I was a loner on the back of the bus! Actually…you know what? You've just been told to show me around by a teacher, or probably have some bet going with your friends. I knew no one could be as nice as you. It's like you're not even human, you're too perfect" she said and stormed off but Troy grabbed her wrist.

"Stop right there. Firstly, I do _not_ have a bet going with my friends, and secondly, I was _not_ told to show you around, I befriended you because you are unique, smart…you are a bright spark Gabriella and you're gorgeous. Some people aren't as bad as they seem. There are bad apples out there. I am not one of them" Troy said and Gabriella just stared at him. Troy sighed and looked at her sympathetically. "I care about you Gabriella"

_I care about you Gabriella_ – the words played over and over in her head. And it's all it took for Gabriella to curl her arms around Troy's waist and hug him and without any hesitation at all; Troy wrapped his strong arms around her in reply. He rested his cheek lightly on her head and closed his eyes.

**Okay people! 20 more reviews and I will post the next chapter I've already written!!**


	6. Not Once, Not Twice, but 3 Times!

TWO WEEKS OR SO AND A FEW MORE PHOTOSHOOTS LATER

Three days after the joint incident with Nickie and Maddie, Troy had left to go and play basketball for one and a half weeks, and to be completely honest – she missed him

Gabriella was walking up to Sharpay's locker to go to biology together. "Hey Gabriella!" Sharpay yelled out before closing her locker to walk over to her friend.

"Hey Sharpay!" Gabriella replied. Sharpay closed her locker, but as she began to walk over to Gabriella, another locked flung open right in front of her and she smacked her face right into it. "Oh my god!" Gabriella whispered to herself, running over to help Sharpay up who now had a bloody nose. "Sharpay! Are you alright??" she asked.

"Yeah I'm good, just need to go fix this nose" Sharpay said so the girls both walked to the bathroom. "That's like the third time I've walked into a locker today alone!" Sharpay said grabbing an entire toilet roll and rolling it out using up the whole thing and plastering it all over her nose.

"Don't worry Sharpay, you've been around to see my terrible embarrassing moments" Gabriella said and they both just looked at each other and burst out laughing, "besides me, you have to be the most clumsy person ever!" Gabriella said.

"Well I've never seen more of a klutz than _you_ Gabriella Montez!" Sharpay replied in between laughs.

"No wonder we get along so well" Gabriella said smiling.

"Precisely" Sharpay replied. "Hey listen…" Sharpay began. The two girls kept quiet and heard lots of cheering and trumpets and squealing from girls outside. "I wonder what that's all about" she said. They both ran out, Sharpay still having bundles of toilet paper over her nose, to see the basketball team arriving back and walking down the hallway. _Yes! He's back!_ Gabriella thought to herself. She stood on her toes to see if she could see him anywhere…but she couldn't, and she felt very disappointed. "Come on, lets just go to bio" Sharpay said.

"Good idea" Gabriella replied. Once they reached the biology classroom, Sharpay walked in, but Gabriella's phone began to ring. Without checking the ID she just answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Miss. Montez?" a strange voice replied.

"Yes?"

"This is Coach Bolton's assistant coach, he would like to meet you in the gym to discuss your gym results"

"Umm, okay. But how did anyone get my num…hello? Hello??" Gabriella just put her phone away, some random just hung up on her, but she made her way to the gym after telling Sharpay she wouldn't be long.

Gabriella pushed open the large doors once more and quietly walked in the gym, the sound of her shoes tapping on the polished floor, "coach Bolton?" she said quietly. She saw basketballs all over the floor, there must have been basketball practice before, "hello?" she said once more but no reply. She just decided to wait, so she picked up and ball, bounced it a couple of times and shot a hoop. She kept doing this, and moving around until she heard a noise.

Click, click, click, click, click…

Gabriella stopped and smiled to herself. "So you wanted to discuss my gym results?" she said sneakily.

"No. I lied" the voice said.

"Oh really?" Gabriella replied. For a while no one spoke, so she turned around only to be greeted with a strong hug from Troy. She wrapped her arms back around his waste; the feeling of him against her was so nice.

"I missed you Gabriella. And seeing you fall over" he said and Gabriella chuckled.

"Well I've been missing the flashes from your camera. And you too I guess" she said and Troy laughed. They pulled away and looked into each other's eyes. Troy pushed a strand of hair behind Gabriella's ear and began to stroke her cheek. Gabriella closed her eyes and pressed her check further against Troy's hands and sighed. She opened her eyes again and Troy's face edged towards hers. But all of a sudden, bouncing of basketballs and the squeaking of sneakers were heard against the floor and Gabriella and Troy immediately jumped apart, Troy rubbing the back of his neck and Gabriella pretending to fix her hair.

"Hey Troy!" Chad yelled, "oh hey Gabriella" Chad said smiling.

"Hi Chad" Gabriella replied.

"What…are you guys doing?" Chad asked.

"Nothing. So when was the assignment due Gabriella?" Troy asked.

"Huh? Oh! Umm, yeah. Next Wednesday" she said.

"I'll be seeing you after school" Troy whispered to her so the others couldn't hear.

"I'll be there" Gabriella whispered and Troy winked at her.

For the rest of basketball practice, Troy was cold towards the team. Perfect, _perfect_ timing for the lot of them!

THE END OF THE DAY

"Hello Gabriella. S-Sorry about my team this morning" Troy said feeling a bit awkward.

"That's okay. Do you want to shoot some more photos this afternoon?" she asked. Gabriella was feeling more and more confident each photo shoot they had

"Yeah sure" Troy said, "let us go" he said as he slung an arm casually around Gabriella's shoulder.

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TROY'S HOUSE

"I'm just gotta go ring my mum, I'll be right back" Troy said leaving Gabriella in his bedroom. Gabriella awkwardly stood in his room – until she spotted a big pile of photos. She walked over to look at them; they weren't fun social ones, just his photography. But that was fine, she enjoyed looking at them. She saw one girl just dressed in an almost see through dress. She was on her tip toes with her dress blowing everywhere, there must have been a big fan in the room. She looked at another and it was a girl in the nude lying down, but you couldn't see any of her 'private parts' because Troy had strategically took the photo so the viewer couldn't see them. "Troy is back" Troy said. Gabriella jumped and accidently dropped the pile of photos everywhere.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry!" Gabriella said and went to pick up all the photos.

"Hey, don't worry about it" Troy said, bending down to help her. "Ah, I see you've seen these photos" Troy said but Gabriella didn't say anything. They both stood up and Gabriella cleared her throat while straightening out the creases in her outfit. "So…"

"Troy I want to do that" Gabriella said.

"Do what?" Troy asked.

"_That"_ Gabriella repeated, pointing at the photos Troy was holding. Troy looked down at the almost naked girls.

"You do?" Troy asked in slight shock, and Gabriella surely nodded her head.

"Yes" Gabriella said looking at Troy.

"U-Uh…y-yeah. Okay. Um…" Troy looked around and took her to the pool house. Once they got there, Troy set to work. "Okay Gabriella, are you sure you want to do these photos?" Troy asked and once again, Gabriella nodded her head. "Alright. I have this concept, you can wrap yourself in these white sheets and lie down on this bed to begin with." He said looking at her and Gabriella nodded. "I'll give you some time" he said and he left the pool house so she could get undressed and wrap herself in the crisp white sheets. About 10 minutes later, Troy knocked on the door.

"You can come in" Gabriella said holding she sheet at her chest so it wouldn't fall down. Troy entered the room still with his head down fixing up the camera. When he looked up however, he almost dropped it. She had let her hair down, and her collar bone and shoulders and neck looked like nothing he had ever seen before. Her dark skin was beautiful.

"You're beautiful" Troy said and Gabriella turned a light shade of pink. "O-Ok, just ov-over to the bed" Troy said, and Gabriella could tell he was mesmerized by her which made her more confident and was highly flattered. "Alright, so just lie down here" Troy said propping up a white pillow as well. Gabriella did as she was told and lay down. "Okay perfect" Troy said. He gently took her hand and he felt Gabriella jump, "don't worry" he said and he moved her arm so it was resting above her head on the pillow. He put his hand under her head, lifted it up and slightly spread her hair out. "Just what the doctor ordered" Troy said and Gabriella laughed and Troy quickly got a few snaps of that. He stood at the foot of the bed and set to work.

Click, click, click, click, click.

Troy changed his position and stood at the side of the bed and took more snap shots. Click, click, click…

Troy leaned over her more and put his knee up on the bed and Gabriella's breath got caught in her throat. Click, click, click. "You okay?" Troy asked.

"Just fine" Gabriella said smiling.

"Just know Gabriella, I have absolutely no intentions for this" Troy said and stretched across Gabriella so he was kneeling above her, straddling her. Gabriella surprisingly didn't mind, she just smiled. Click, click, click, click…clack, clack, clack… "Dammit" Troy mumbled.

"What was that noise?" Gabriella asked.

"I'm all out of film" Troy said looking at his camera.

"Should you get some more?" Gabriella asked.

"Probably" he said, but Troy didn't move, and neither did Gabriella, they just stared at each other. All of a sudden, a massive rush of need swept through Troy, a need to just kiss Gabriella. Gabriella felt very feminine underneath Troy and he looked even sexier above her. Gabriella softly, without realizing, stroked Troy's arm and it's all it took for Troy to slowly lean down and plant his lips on hers, but there was a knock on the door.

"Troy?? I'm home!" Troy's mother said. Troy quickly got off Gabriella and Gabriella closed her eyes in a disappointment.

NEXT DAY

"YOU ALMOST KISSED TR-"

"Shut up!" Gabriella said to Sharpay.

"Sorry, I can't believe that!" she whispered.

"Neither can I" Gabriella said, "oh! Shh, here he comes" Gabriella added. Sharpay and Gabriella both just looked at him and smiled.

"Uh…hey girls. What's with the looks?" Troy asked.

"Well! I just heard _you_ almost k-" but before Sharpay could finish, Gabriella slapped a hand over Sharpay's mouth and carried on like nothing was wrong.

"We were just laughing at something random" Gabriella said.

"Oh I see" Troy said, but he had a feeling he knew what they were really talking about

"Well, it's time for me to go to drama now, I'll see you ladies later" Sharpay said blowing kisses to them.

"Very funny Sharpay" Troy said, "I wanted to apologise for yesterday" Troy said when they were finally alone.

"What for?" Gabriella asked.

"For my mum having really bad timing" Troy said and Gabriella bit her lip then looked down at the ground which Troy found so cute, "can I ask you something Gabriella?" Troy said, and Gabriella lifted her head up.

"Okay" she replied cautiously.

"Well, I may already know the answer, but would you mind if I kis-"

"Yo Troy!!" Chad yelled as he came up to Troy thrusting an orange basketball in his arms.

"Chad! I'm busy!!" Troy said angrily as he turned to look at him.

"With what??" Chad asked.

"Talking to Ga-" Troy began, but stopped when he turned to look at Gabriella, but she wasn't there. "Damn you Chad" Troy said and walked away.

Gabriella was speed walking down the hallway; did Troy say he wanted to kiss her? Maybe he did, but now she felt guilty for ditching him. She must have embarrassed him a bit. _How am I supposed to make it up to him?_ Gabriella thought, then she came up with an idea. Troy had basketball training with the majority of the team, and Gabriella had another free period – so she decided to go and watch him. She knew how much he loved basketball, so she made her way to the gym.

Gabriella reached the large doors and pushed them open quietly. She tippy toed over to the bleachers and sat down in the very corner, so she couldn't be right in the center of attention, but also so she could be seen. She sought out Troy and found him bouncing the ball all the way down the court shouting out to his team and pointing his finger everywhere. He threw it to Chad who then threw it back to Troy and he ended up scoring a goal. Gabriella was about to break out in applause but that would be slightly embarrassing for her and for Troy, so she placed her hands back down in her lap.

About 20 minutes had passed and Troy still didn't know Gabriella was there. Well, she was sort of in a spot that was sort of hidden.

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"Alright guys good work!! Great hustle!!" Coach Bolton yelled out to all the guys who were sweaty and tired, "hit the showers boys" he added. Gabriella's eyes widened when each guy took their shirt off and were going to take the path to the showers, which was clearly past Gabriella. So Gabriella quickly got up before she would turn bright red to leave. She stepped over seats a few times until she reached the bottom, but much to her luck, he foot caught on the very last seat and SMACK. She fell flat on the floor.

"Oww" she moaned with her head facing down. Gabriella heard some guys snickering and whispering and she didn't _dare_ look up.

"Gabriella??" a familiar voice said, and on hearing it Gabriella's heart returned back to its normal pace. She sensed him kneel down next to her so she looked up and saw Troy shirtless, extremely close to her and breathing heavily. "What are you doing here?" he asked pleasantly.

"Well, I just came to watch" Gabriella said as Troy helped her into a sitting position. "But as always, it turns out badly"

"Are you hurt?" Troy asked.

"No. I'm fine" she said, but Troy spotted a nasty bruise on her shoulder.

"Except for that bruise" Troy said pointing to it. "Does this hurt?" Troy asked very lightly pressing his fingers against it, aside from Troy's touch, it did hurt.

"A bit" Gabriella said as she watched all the guys clearing out. "I think I hit the seat with my arm when I came crashing down here" Troy moved his fingers over it again and Gabriella winced.

"Sorry!" Troy said.

"Its okay" Gabriella replied. She felt Troy soften his touch and he ran his fingers over the bruise very lightly. He was doing it purposely, he ran his fingers over her smooth skin, and soon enough, Gabriella felt his lips lightly kissing her shoulder. She didn't move, she just relaxed and let him kiss her shoulder, going up her neck and finally reaching her mouth. He pushed her slowly down to the ground and rolled on top of her still kissing her.

"_Gabriella? Gabriella?? Gabriella?!!"_

"Huh?! Oh, what?" Gabriella said rubbing her eyes and lifting her body up from lying down on the bleachers.

"You were asleep" Troy said, helping her into a sitting position, "were you having a dream?" Troy asked grinning. Gabriella looked at him, he was a good kisser in her dreams.

"I was. And you're a good kisser in them…I mean, no. Wait, shit! I mean, sorry about the language, you weren't a good kisser, I mean not that you are bad because I have never kissed you… and. Umm, well I didn't have a dream about you and kissing you…I'm kind of, lost. You were in a dr- no! You weren't in a dream, that's what I'm trying to say but you….were?" Gabriella said almost all in one breath, adding a nervous laugh at the end. She looked up at Troy who was smiling and chuckling to himself.

"It's okay Gabriella. You're a good kisser in my dreams too" Troy said and Gabriella's head whipped up.

"Huh?"

"You are. I had a dream about you last night, and you were a great kisser in it" Troy said winking at her and helping her up.

"Well, dreams are dreams. They aren't real. I may be a terrible kisser" Gabriella said, wiping the marks of dirt of her from the gym floor.

"Well there is always a way to find out" Troy said and Gabriella looked up at him.

"There is?" Gabriella asked.

"Absolutely" Troy said. "You close your eyes" he said, "go on" he added, so Gabriella closed her eyes. She felt Troy's hand slide up from her collarbone gently up to her cheek.

"Troy! You still there?!" Coach Bolton yelled from the doors and Troy almost exploded. Gabriella opened her eyes and saw Coach Bolton at the door.

"Here dad, uh…coach" Troy replied.

"Go hit the showers! You have history next!" he yelled and left the gym doors again. Troy and Gabriella looked at each other sympathetically. Gabriella was just about to step on her tippy toes to reach up and peck Troy on the lips but it was no use, Chad had butted in.

"COME ON TROY!!!" He yelled.

"Yeah man!" Troy yelled back, "I'm sorry Gabriella. I'll see you at lunch" Troy said and walked off to the showers, taking his shirt off on the way. But Troy sensed Gabriella's eyes on him. He turned around but Gabriella quickly whipped her entire body around and pretended to play with her hair. "Are you staring at me Gabriella?" Troy asked playfully. But he only laughed when he watched Gabriella bolt out of the gym, with her white skirt fluttering at her knees.

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LUNCH

-

Gabriella took her lunch from the line and went to join Sharpay and her friends at their lunch table. On the way, she passed Troy's table. She got closer and closer and their eyes locked with each other, but as soon as Gabriella couldn't turn her neck anymore, she turned around and tripped over a mop and bucket which was lying in the middle of the floor. Her tray went flying everywhere and she tried to grab a table but grabbed someone else's tray which was lying on the table and ended up spilling strawberry milk all on the side of her pretty white skirt. And to top it all off, she stepped on the end of the mop which came flying up and hit her in the face, sending her to the ground. But to make her feel better, not only was Troy watching, but the entire grade.

"Gabriella!" Sharpay yelled as she ran over to help, but she forgot the strawberry milk was still all over the floor and she too slipped badly and fell over right next to Gabriella. "Not really our day Gabriella?" Sharpay said.

"Not really our year" Gabriella replied, "plus we both have nose bleeds now" she added and Sharpay's hand went to feel her nose and yes, there was blood.

"Shit" she said, so they both got up, holding their noses as everybody began to laugh. They walked to the bathroom, once again passing Troy's table. Troy was about to open his mouth but was stopped.

"Forget it Troy" Gabriella said half heartedly smiling.


End file.
